Kat Von D Celebrates 10 Years Of Sobriety And Is Happy To Put Her ‘Wild Drinking Days’ Behind Her
Kat Von D celebrated 10 years of sobriety and being in a state of “conscious living.” The former LA Ink star, whose making major moves in the makeup industry with Kat Von D Beauty, marked the important anniversary by sharing a photo with her 6 million Instagram followers last Friday. The 35-year-old added the triumphant caption, “Today I celebrate 10 years of sobriety.” Kat’s words were followed by a black heart emoji. Kat Von D’s followers were quick to commend the artist on her major milestone.
Kat Von D sat down with TheFix in a candid interview and discussed why she chooses to speak out about her sobriety and what being sober truly means to her. Von D said being sober simply means she is returning to a state that allows her to operate and function at her best. Kat said she’s vocal about being sober so that she can be of service to others in leading by example.
“If anybody out there feels that they relate to me in any capacity and happen to be struggling, perhaps I can lead by example by showing that if I can do it, you can do it too.”
In 2012, Kat Von D appeared on The Rosie Show where she revealed to millions that her decision to become sober was fueled by her vice interfering with her work. During the show, Rosie O’Donnell asked Kat Von D, “so what’s your drug of choice?” According to Us Weekly, Kat replied with, “drinking.” Von D added that the amount of alcohol she consumed was a slow and gradual process.
“Um, drinking. Yeah, drinking. So I mean, there was three months that I went on a drug binge but that was very, uh, I guess I master things quite quickly, you know. It escalated really fast so I learned my lesson really fast… With the drinking, it was more progressive and functional.”
According to Kat, she never had an intervention from concerned friends and family — instead, she upheld a promise she made to herself early on in her tattooing career.
“I’m a pretty disciplined person, but I had made a promise to myself when I started professionally tattooing that if there was anything that would ever get in the way of my ability to tattoo, I would cut it out. When I realized that drinking was getting in the way, I woke up one day and said, ‘I don’t want to drink anymore,’ and I stopped.”
Kat Von D said abstaining from alcohol may sound simple, but her social life took a hit after choosing sobriety. Kat soon realized she didn’t have as much interaction with people she deemed to be good friends.
Kat Von D celebrates 10 years of sobriety: https://t.co/WL1Zn6STA0 pic.twitter.com/vfZNf8cBeb
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) July 9, 2017
Kat said she questioned whether many of her relationships were superficial and asked herself, “‘Wait, my friends aren’t really my friends, I’m just a party favor.’ And that’s ok … now I hang out with people who are on the same frequency.”
For Kat, life is much different now that she’s chosen to “live consciously” instead of just “doing things.” Von D said she has a better memory and now finds happiness by enjoying moments in her life.
The LA Ink star said when she looks back on her “wild drinking days,” she never imaged she would be at a point in her life where she would celebrate sobriety.
“When you are on the other side of things, you have such a profoundly different perspective on life. On this side, you realize it’s something to be celebrated. That doesn’t mean that I think I should get a pat on the back when I post on Instagram or Twitter about my sobriety anniversary.”
“I get a lot of people making comments like ‘Good Job!’ or ‘You should be proud.’ I am proud, but I don’t want to get extra credit for doing my homework.”
Inspired fans continued to praise Kat Von D on social media as they shared their own battles with addiction and personal journeys to sobriety.
Kat Von D has also been romantically linked to several celebs who themselves have maintained their sobriety. For a while, Kat dated the Mötley Crüe bass guitarist Nikki Sixx, who had a book published titled The Heroin Diaries about his time in active addiction and the turmoil it brought him while actively playing and touring with Mötley Crüe. Kat was also briefly engaged to Jesse James, another man who maintains his sobriety. DJ DeadMau5, Kat Von D’s former fiancé, spoke out against Madonna who reportedly made a drug reference in between a song during one of her concerts.
[Featured Image by Jack Taylor/Getty Images]
